Setting

The time, place and social environment in which a story or scene takes place.

The place and time in which a story takes place. A setting can shape events and suggest ideas about society.

London is therefore both a setting and the focus of a larger thematic question: can a huge, confusing modern city be understood and controlled? Conan Doyle repeatedly contrasts obscurity with discovery. Yet the city's threatening appearance is also shaped by the people describing it, particularly Watson, whose first-person narration gives us his impressions rather than a neutral survey.

There are 38 chapters, and the stages of Jane’s life are most easily understood through five main settings. Each place changes what she can do, whom she can trust and what she understands about herself.

The time, place and social environment in which a story takes place.

The setting helps reveal the changing power relationships. The barn begins as a place for shared hopes and debate, but becomes a place where animals receive orders and encounter rewritten laws. The farmhouse, initially preserved as a museum, becomes the pigs' private home.

The place and time in which a text’s action occurs.

The place and circumstances in which a story or dramatic scene takes place.

The place and time in which events happen. A setting can also shape a character’s opportunities and carry symbolic meanings.

The settings organise her search for a home: exclusion at Gateshead, education at Lowood, troubled love at Thornfield, family and independence at Moor House, and chosen companionship at Ferndean.

Definition

How each exam board covers it

AQA GCSE English Literature · 8702

Edexcel GCSE English Literature · 1ET0

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OCR GCSE English Literature · J352

Eduqas GCSE English Literature · C720